Lighting for Sewing
 

What is the best desk or floor lamp for sewing and quilting?

Ott lights are great...simulate natural light and they have floor models and desk models..I have several...bulbs can be expensive to replace but last long...

I really like the Ott light. I have a floor lamp by my sewing machine and a clip on for my ironing board. I really need lots of light!

I have 3 Ott lights and love, love them. The larger bulbs can be expensive but my desk one was $11 from Amazon. With the cost of LED lights for just a regular lamps the cost doesn't seem a lot and they last a long time. The light is pure white. I did find my desk one on Amazon for less than At Joann's with a 50% coupon. Do shopping for the best price.

I'm an ott light girl too.

Personally, I prefer just getting a basic floor lamp at Home Depot with 3 adjustable lights (can move to point different directions) & then outfit them with 19wt LEDs. 3 of those are the equivalent light of (6) 60wt incandescent bulbs. It's like noon at the equator in my sewing room since I bought them. Cost me about $20 each for the light bulbs & another $20 for the lamp, but it was the best $80 I ever spent on my sewing room after my machine.

I really like halogen lights but they do get warm. I have one for my hand sewing on a table by my chair and it can get quite warm while sewing but I can see EVERYTHING.

i've heard such good things about the LED lights. i like your description of the brightness. How much heat is emitted?

I have a floor model Ott light, just love it. I also have a folding Ott light table lamp that I use on retreat or when I am quilting at a friends house. Just love the light it gives and love that the light is similar to daylight. Colors show up as they really are under this light too. There are other brands out there, but I have not tried them.

Zero. LEDs don't have a heating element like other light bulbs. They also are the only light bulb that doesn't emit any UV light so they are totally safe for fabrics (no fading, no fiber breakdown).

There are only 2 potential downsides: (1) the cost, although that isn't as much of an issue when you consider the minimum life of these bulbs is around 10 years [some say 20, but that's probably not typically realistic], and (2) the size of the 19wt bulbs is like the size of a spotlight. They do fit within in my floor lamp shades, but just barely. However, since they emit no heat, they do not cause any melting/damage to the cheapy plastic shades that came with the lamp. You can get a smaller bulb, but then it obviously wouldn't be quite as bright.

I have switched to LED bulbs, not the swirly kind, there is a difference. I buy the 100 watt equivalent. Don't bother on the less brightness. Read the lumen amount. There is a reason why one is priced $6 and one is priced $13. The daylight bulb is too glary for me in overhead lights but fine for lamps. I like the soft white. I rarely turn them off, the last much longer if not turned off and on. The amount of power used is trifling.

I have five desk Ott lamps and they work just fine for me, easy to move and can take a couple on retreats

thanks, bree. i think ill try one

I love all of my Ott lights.

I have two Stella desk Lights and one clamp on Stella clamped to my quilting machine. I love that their color temperature and brightness can be adjusted . . .really makes a difference when looking at colors.

I've quit using my ott light and daylight lamp because I don't like fluorescents. I bought an LED ott light and it puts out about as much light as a tiny flashlight. Maybe less. What a waste of money that was. I ended up just putting LED bulbs in my regular lamps.

I have a small table lamp with a bendable neck from IKEA. Cost about $10 and works well. I also have four Ott lights. One is a very nice floor lamp in the LR for night time sewing.

I love my Ott lite. It sits to the right of my machine and articulates to wherever I need it. Love your name, I'm a Tish also.

I recently retrofitted all my fluorescent lights with LED's. I LOVE them. Yes it was pricey but NO heat and lower electric bills. Had I known at the time that fluorescent bulbs faded fabric I'd never have had them installed, but I do like these. I am in the process of replacing ALL the bulbs in my house with them. I got them at earthled.com. Pretty good prices although there are a couple sizes I've not found yet. I also have track lighting with 50W LED. I'd sweat like crazy under them. I replaced those 5 with the led type. HUGE difference. I too have an OTT light by my chair for doing handwork. LED is the way to go - for now. Course technology will come up with something even better - and more expensive. That's progress I guess.

I like old fashioned incandescent bulbs for general lighting in my sewing room - I use the GE "Reveal" brand bulbs, which are nearly natural spectrum.

For task lighting at my machine I have a pair of IKEA "Jansjo" LED gooseneck lamps that point right at my sewing machine bed.

At my cutting table, I use a neat old extra-large brass gooseneck lamp with another Reveal bulb in it for most of my cutting needs. I also have an Ott light at the end of my cutting table - I don't have it on most of the time because it has a high-pitched whine to it (that nobody but me can hear), but if it's late and I need to see "true" colors I'll switch it on briefly.

During the day I'm lucky to have a sewing room with a lot of natural light so it's only in the evenings that I need anything but task lighting. I have "low e-glass" windows that are supposed to cut down on UV and have added an additional UV/privacy film to the windows so I can leave all my blinds open and have privacy and bright light that isn't too direct and is hopefully as harmless to my fabrics as possible. (I still store my fabrics in cabinets with doors, but I keep things on my design wall for months at a time.)

Ott....but wait till there is a sale

I have two Ott lights - a floor model and a folding desk model. The small folding light is used right on my sewing machine table.

I have a five light standing lamp and 4 light ceiling fan with the 60W LED bulbs. I have an Ott type light I use also. When I quilt on dinig table I have 3 100W bulbs to see by.

Have no room to right of table and anything on the left is in the way. Gave away the big clamp/base Ott, and put in LED track lighting. I kept the portable folding OTT and the flashlights. I also have a very old Halogen Tensor that I can use if needed. We use CFL in other rooms. The kitchen is also LED. I added the Ecolux LED lights to both the Pfaff 2170 and the Juki 2010. They work and are out of my way.

I have 2 floor Ott lamps. One over my quilt frame and the other next to my chair to do hand work.

Ha ha - so funny!

I have 5 ott lights in my sewing room (its large) and love them. I bought a floor lamp to go by the couch where I sit in the evening and my husband made fun of it. Until he sat on the couch and used it. Then he wanted one for himself. lol. Ott lights rock

I have a goose neck Ott floor lamp I purchased at Joann's. The bulb just blew and I tried to replace. JA does not carry the bulbs anymore. I had to order them online. Any Ott light you buy make sure you can replace them without paying an arm and a leg.

I really love the LED lights that stick to the underside of the throat of the machine.